How to Care for Tortoises

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Tim Cole I'm with the Austin Reptile Service and we've been keeping reptiles and amphibians for over forty years and we're here to talk to you about keeping tortoises. There are several species of tortoises and several species need different types of care. For example, red-foot tortoises need a lot more humidity than for example, a sulcata tortoise. Some tortoises get very large and some of them stay small so you need to be careful on your selection of the tortoise and what you've got room for. Hermann's tortoises, Greek tortoises, Russian tortoises, make great tortoise pets cause they don't get much bigger than this. But your spur-thighed tortoise which is an animal this big takes a lot more room and needs to be kept outside to keep them properly. So you need to consider this when you're picking out a tortoise for a pet. Younger ones certainly should be started inside, you want to provide heat lamps and UV lights for them. But as they get older and if you live in the climate where they could be kept outside that's a much better way to keep them. Their diets varied but for the most part they're going to eat veggies and a lot of them will actually eat grasses which is healthier for them. So you want to do your research on the specimens you're keeping and the type of food you're giving them. For most of them, fruit is not good but believe it or not some of the drier grasses work out very well for most tortoises. So check out their diets and make sure you've got the proper UV lights, heat lamps for them. Buy them the supplements on their food and they will probably outlive you."